The Trap of UnBelief
Chasing Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
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· 9 viewsThroughout history, people have struggled to truly believe in God. In His grace, God has relentlessly pursued His people and made Himself known through signs, miracles and prophets. As their unbelief continued, God gave them over to their unbelief that in the absence of God, they might turn toward Him. As Jesus confronts the crowds who would call for his execution in a few short days, He seeks to stir their hearts from unbelief and darkness to seek the light while they still can.
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Those who will Not Believe
Those who will Not Believe
Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn—and I would heal them.”
Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
John pauses from the events to reflect on the hearts of the crowds as they received Jesus. Even in the midst of all that Christ had accomplished, even after seeing each miracle, even after the account of Lazarus rising from the dead after four days in the grave, people still did not believe.
John directs the readers to see that this is nothing new. Humans have failed to place their faith in the Lord throughout history despite the mounting testimony of God’s faithfulness, power, and grace. John refers back to the prophet Isaiah who preached repentance to the people of Israel before the time of captivity. Isaiah preached to a people whose ears were deaf to his words. Isaiah stopped at nothing to get the people’s attention and show them their need to turn back to God.
John quotes . He draws the correlation between Isaiah and Jesus. Isaiah prophesied to the southern kingdom during the time of the Assyrian take over. In , we find that Isaiah even walked around naked for three years to try to get the people’s attention.
at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,
at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.
Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame.
Even in the face of the truth and the works of God, our stubbornness will still lead us to blindness, but there is still hope. John continues in his correlation with Isaiah by quoting
This passage can be troubling so let us break it down. In the first century, it was common place to believe that God was the ordainer of all things. There was regular belief that when bad things occurred, it was a result of God’s judgment. This view though is challenged by Jesus.
While God is sovereign over all things, He has allowed His creation to choose and has allowed the consequences of sin to play out in hope and desire to delay judgment to give the opportunity for salvation.
John continues this understanding as he looks to Isaiah and shows that even in spite of the crowds disbelief, God will work good from their disbelief.
Those who will believe in Secret
Those who will believe in Secret
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.
John continues to unpack the hearts of the crowd. There were those in the crowd who believed in Jesus, but were afraid to acknowledge their faith in him. Their fear stemmed from their desire to be accepted by their peers and to not lose their status in the synagogue.
When we try to have a foot in one world and the other foot in the other world, we will never find satisfaction. One world will always demand more of us than the other and we will always feel a greater longing toward one than the other. This is why Jesus states that we can not serve two masters, for we will always end up hating one for the sake of the other.
This is true in life. We can not stand on two fronts at the same time. It is like trying to keep up with the jones and be frugal spenders at the same time. It does not work.
When we seek to gain the praise of people, we will always miss the praise of God for the motives for praise are completely different. God desires to praise His people for their faithfulness to His will, man praises people based on their personal achievements, the ends of their work.
Those Who Will Believe Whoeheartedly
Those Who Will Believe Whoeheartedly
Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
To believe wholeheartedly is to believe as Christ believed. Christ’s only aim was the Father. God was revealed through Jesus because Jesus’ aim was to do the work of God and to represent God in the world.
In the same manner, our calling is to walk in the same manner. Our aim should be to do the work of God and to represent God in the relationships that we share in this life.
This is the walk of the wholehearted believer, that the world would experience the love, joy, hope and peace of God through our interaction. There is no excuse to not do so.
Jesus has come with the purpose of restoring people to God. There will be only one question that will condemn us in the end, did we know God.